Sony will probably be last to announce its next-generation console, according to the leader of its French gaming division, a possibility that won't sit well with gamers or investors.

Sony will probably be last to announce its next-generation console, according to the leader of its French gaming division, a possibility that won't sit well with gamers or investors.

Philippe Cardone, CEO of PlayStation France, told Le Point that it is in no rush to give details about its next console, suggesting that it is nowhere near a point where a prototype can be developed and shown off at events, like the popular E3 event this Summer.

Sony claims there is no pressure, but since its PlayStation 3 trails behind in third place after the Wii and Xbox 360, the company should probably reconsider whether or not such a laidback approach is a good idea.

Cardone claimed that Nintendo announced the Wii U because the Wii is in decline, which there is some truth to, but the reality is because Nintendo had something to announce. With the new console slated to launch later this year it's only natural that the company is ramping up its marketing efforts.

The lack of announcement plans from Sony suggests that we definitely won't see an eight generation console from it this year, as there is unlikely to be enough time to build the appropriate buzz for it. It might also fear competing directly with the Wii U this holiday season.

Microsoft already announced that it will launch its next console, dubbed Xbox 720, in late 2013, giving the Wii U a full year advantage. We can likely expect Sony to release its next device within a similar timeframe, with hopes that it can grab the number two slot behind Nintendo.

However, Sony Computer Enterainment's chairman, Kazuo Hirai, recently reasserted that the PlayStation 3 will have a 10-year life cycle, which means we might not see its successor until as late as 2016, by which time we might have ninth generation consoles from Nintendo and Microsoft.

If Sony lags behind in both PlayStation 4 announcements and a release date then it will likely fail to generate enough buzz for the product. It needs to deliver a truly new console, however, not just the same thing with better graphics, a lesson both it and Microsoft learned when the Wii took the gaming world by storm.